Haywood shrugs off Van Gundy’s accusations

Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy may need to get his eyes checked. After Friday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, SVG accused Mavericks’ center Brendan Haywood of punching Dwight Howard in the back.

I’ve seen the play in question, and I didn’t see anything. Haywood and the Mavs’ coaching staff feel the same way.

“I watched it on NBA-TV (Saturday) night,’’ Haywood said after Sunday’s practice. “(The Mavs’ coaches) said they looked over it and couldn’t find it. I guess Stan has that magical hand cam that he was taping from the bench and he’s got something that nobody else has.’’

The NBA sided with Haywood as well. ESPN says the league office won’t be taking any action against the big man for his alleged punch.

Van Gundy seemed pretty adamant about it and Howard missed the Magic’s game on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets with back spasms, only the 3rd game he’s missed in his entire 8-year career because of injury.

I guess it’s possible that Haywood was able to sneak in a shot without any cameras catching it, but without proof there’s nothing Van Gundy can do about it, and Haywood can keep making his jokes about training with Floyd Mayweather and Van Gundy’s hidden cameras.

“I guess he’s got something no one else has,” Haywood said. “Like I said, it’s a physical game and sometimes guys get testy with elbows thrown, forearms, but no one throws any punches out there. Most of the NBA guys, without a doubt, it’s all WWE to us. We’re fake tough guys. No one throws any real punches. It’s unfortunate Stan feels that way. I know he has to protect his guy, but that’s just not the case. No one has any footage of it I guess except him, so unless he had (assistant coach) Patrick Ewing on the bench taping with his iPhone, I don’t think that really happened.”

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